Busy week, too busy for daily reports… The golden eaglet has been hopping from the nest to nearby cliffs, trying to muster the courage to make that first flight – won’t be long until it’s soaring along with the other eagles. Bear viewing has been great, several sightings last week brought the total to 16 individual bears spotted in the park this year. My dad and I, along with Rob, Chris and Earl, had a very close encounter with a big boar (missing part of his right ear, I remember him from many sightings last year, dubbed him “Bruiser”) as he worked his way across a hill and crossed the road directly in front of us. The mule deer fawns are getting bigger, and along with that growth comes the danger of not being able to hide as well as before. Newborn fawns have no scent, but the older they get the more their scent increases, which makes it easier for predators to detect them. We watched a young bear take down a fawn high on the hogback this week – the mother deer attempted to charge the bear with the fawn in its jaws, then backed off when she realized that it was too late – a hard thing to watch but this is life in the wild, the way it should be and has been for thousands of years. I spent Friday around Hot Sulphur Springs, didn’t see a whole lot of wildlife but the wildflowers are in full bloom, awesome vistas as well. Made another trip to Mission:Wolf on Saturday – helped out a bit, spent the night and lucked out with some wolf and sunset/sunrise shots. The wolves greeted the morning sun with a wonderful group howl, and a family of coyotes somewhere in the mountains nearby responded with their own chatter – what a way to wake up! I was able to see the new additions to the sanctuary – two 11-week old wolf pups that look like tough little mini-wolves with gigantic paws, just adorable. They’re pretty skittish, I didn’t want to add to their already obviously high stress levels by clicking away at them with my camera, so no shots to share. These little guys, due to the age at which they’re beginning their human habituation, will no doubt make excellent ambassador wolves one day, travelling the world and enlightening kids and adults.